One of the most rapidly growing areas in medicine is Critical Care. Care of critical illness and injury consumes about $80 billion in expenses each year (approximately 1% of the gross domestic product in the United States). Mortality in critical care units in US hospitals exceeds all other areas with one in five hospital deaths occurring in the critical care setting. The field of Critical Care Medicine is extensive, encompassing not only myriad physical locations and providers but a broad spectrum of illness. The best hope for both containing costs and improving patient outcomes lies in two key areas, implementing current research findings and initiating new efforts that address critical care priorities. In spite of the importance of critical care there is neither a current framework identifying research priorities in critical care nor a consensus on the agenda for critical care research. To address this deficiency, the four largest professional societies involved in critical care in the United States, the American Thoracic Society (ATS), the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) and the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) convened with the NIH US Critical Illness and Injury Trials Group (USCIITG) to work collaboratively toward the development of a comprehensive agenda for critical care research. These organizations have tasked a Steering Committee comprised of five key leaders in critical care to develop and execute a process that will result in the identification of critical care research priorities which serve as a blueprint for future critical care initiatives. A key component of that process is the subject of this application: a face-to- face meeting of the Multi-Society Strategic Planning Task Force for Critical Care Research. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: One of the most rapidly growing areas in medicine, critical care, consumes approximately 1% of the US gross domestic product and encompassing substantial morbidity with one in five hospital deaths occurring in the critical care setting. The best hope for both containing costs and improving patient outcomes lies in two key areas: implementing current research findings and initiating new research efforts in critical illness and injury. The Multi-Society Strategic Planning Task Force for Critical Research has been charged with the development of research priorities in critical care.